GOOD Statement by Brett Herron,
GOOD Secretary-General & Member of the Western Cape Parliament
27 October 2025
GOOD Secretary-General and Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament, Brett Herron, has lodged a criminal complaint against former Finance MEC Mireille Wenger (now Health MEC) and Education MEC David Maynier, alleging they knowingly tabled a false provincial budget ahead of the 2024 elections.
False Budget Allegation
Herron contends that the 2024 Western Cape Budget, tabled by Wenger on 7 March 2024, underfunded educator posts in the Department of Education by R3.8 billion.
Both Wenger and Maynier, he says, were aware of the shortfall but chose to present the budget as balanced and sustainable.
Timing and Motive
The alleged misrepresentation occurred just two months before the May 2024 general election. Herron argues that the decision to conceal the shortfall was politically motivated, designed to avoid negative publicity and create the impression of sound provincial finances.
Evidence Cited
- By November 2023, both MECs were informed of the impact of the 2023 public-service wage agreement and national budget cuts.
- The Education Department had approved 37,135 educator posts for 2024/25, but the funds allocated were insufficient to cover those costs.
- On 28 August 2024, Maynier publicly admitted to a R3.8 billion shortfall and confirmed that 2,400 educator posts would be cut.
- Treasury and Education officials later acknowledged in committee meetings that “nothing changed between March and August”, confirming the shortfall was known at the time of tabling.
Legal Basis
The complaint alleges violations of:
- Common-law fraud and forgery & uttering for knowingly submitting false financial documents.
- Section 86 of the Public Finance Management Act for financial misconduct by accounting officers.
- Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act for misleading the legislature.
As far as the GOOD Party can establish, this is the first time in South Africa’s history that a government has been caught out tabling a false or fake budget. Budgets are not political speeches; they are legal documents that determine how billions in public money are allocated. Misrepresenting them undermines public trust and financial integrity.
Detailed Timeline:
28 November 2023 – Wenger tables 2023/24 Provincial MTBPS and adjustment budget. She specifically references the financial impacts of the March 2023 public service wage agreement on the Western Cape Department of Education’s salary bill, and the impact of national budget cuts that would be applied to the Western Cape over the 2024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework.
7 March 2024 – Wenger tables the 2024 Budget for the 2024/25 MTEF period (ie 2024/25, 2025/26 and 2026/27). The budget provides for an increase of nearly 1000 teachers, to 37 530, to hold steady until 2026/2027.
27 March 2024 – MEC Maynier delivers a speech in Legislature on the Education Budget vote. He brags: “This is the largest budget for education that we have ever tabled, and the largest budget of any department in our province.” He mentions that the province suffered a R716.4m blow to its education budget in 2023, forcing it to implement cost-containment measures including building fewer schools and employing fewer relief teachers. But Maynier nonetheless presents a balanced budget, saying nothing about scrapping thousands of teacher posts.
29 May 2024 – General Election
28 August 2024 – Maynier issues media statement saying that due to budget cuts the province would not be able to maintain the number of teacher posts in the March budget. Claiming to have been short-changed by national government (despite knowing of the public service wage agreement since long before tabling his budget) he announces the culling of 2400 teacher posts in 2025.
29 November 2024 – At a meeting of the Western Cape Standing Committee on Education, Head of Department of Education Brent Walters concedes that budget shortfalls are “not something that came on this year… the first signal to us that there is an issue came in the previous financial year”. The Education Department’s Chief Financial Officer Leon Elly explains, “We tried to look at relief teachers and substitutes and so forth to try and limit the particular operations around that to effect the savings that we were going to get; well we were hoping to get those savings. Unfortunately…that was not realised.”